This invention relates to previously opened containers of food and particularly to such containers of food intended to be eaten by children.
Typically, food intended for consumption by children, particularly intints, that are being or have been weaned, is sold in or stored in glass containers with a metallic lid. Such containers had been usually carefully presterilized and thus may be stored for lengthy periods prior to opening. After opening, however, it is customary to place the container with such food in it as has not been consumed immediately, in a refrigerator in order to retard spoilage. An usual parent, busy with the demands of everyday living, may have several such containers stored in the refrigerator and it is unreasonable to expect that memory of when the food was stored is readily recollected. Unfortunately, for at least two pertinent reasons, the date of opening of the containers is important: food that has been left for any lengthy amount of time may become contaminated and induce illness if fed to a child, and even if the food is comestible, it may contain allergens that have caused a reaction and therefore should no longer be fed to the child.
The majority of packaged baby or children""s food is marked with an xe2x80x9cuse byxe2x80x9d date, but it is also extremely important that the parent be aware of how long each opened container is safe for a child""s consumption. This is particularly important in the event that the child has been under the care of an alloparent such as a baby-sitter, grandparent, nanny or the like who was responsible for opening a container that was subsequently refrigerated with part of the original contents, yet is not necessarily available to provide that information. When there is any doubt that the contents of an opened jar are safe or fresh, most parents apparently follow the adage xe2x80x9cwhen in doubt, throw it outxe2x80x9d.
Food allergies are a common problem with babies and small children following the introduction of a specific food into the child""s diet. Normally, when a child exhibits some type of allergic reaction, a pediatrician will query as to what and when new food, if any, was recently introduced into the child""s diet. Yet, it may be difficult, if not impossible, for a busy parent to remember, possibly days after introducing the new food to the child, the nature of the food and the date on which it was fed to the child.
Systems used to identify food items deposited in a refrigerator are known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,100 issued Sep. 24, 1974 to M. C. Guida, discloses a chart for identifying refrigerated containers of foodstuffs, the chart being attachable to a refrigerator and having a row of numbers denoting corresponding food items. Pressure-sensitive tabs bearing those numbers can be removed from the chart and applied to the containers on deposit of the latter in the refrigerator. The color of the tabs indicates the relative perishablility of the food in the containers. Index numbers are also set forth on the chart to indicate the location of each container in the refrigerator, which is similarly marked internally to denote locations within the refrigerator. The chart further is intended to display such information as the servings remaining in each container and the dates of deposit, all in the form of entries to be made on the chart by hand, ostensibly contemporaneously at the time of the deposit of the container. Such a system requires frequent intervention by the user, particularly to make and erase entries, to find a writing instrument that may easily be mislaid, and may not identify with precision, the extent of the storage interval of the containers.
Other systems are also known such as those set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,276 issued to Namniak et al, disclosing an electronic food inventory system attachable to a refrigerator door and requiring that information as to perishability to be stored on the refrigerator body. U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,104 issued to Broschi disclosing a record-keeping system that can be employed with food, but is not applied to the food items per se; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,459 that teaches a general color or shape-coded marking system
A principal object of the present invention is then to provide a system for simply and positively identifying when a container, such as a jar of partially consumed baby food typically stored in a refrigerator, was first opened, thereby eliminating any doubt as to its safety and freshness. Another important object of the present invention is to provide a safety system that permits a parent and/or physician to clearly identity a possible source of food allergy symptoms. Yet other objects of the present invention are to provide such systems in which the opened, stored containers can be easily and conveniently identified with a first set of markers that do not necessarily involve any more effort on the part of the individual than simply applying a conveniently disposed token or marker on each such container, to provide such marker in the form of magnetic items that can be releasably stored for use on a magnetizable metal exterior wall of a refrigerator or a magnetizable metallic storage board and transferred easily to adhere magnetically to a magnetizable metal cap of such containers; to provide each such marker with premarked or printed indicia that indicate a day of the week when the marker was applied to the container, so that minimally there are seven such tokens each bearing the name of a different day; and to provide means such as a board for storing such markers, with space on the board to record, but only if desired, pertinent data such as the nature of the introduced food, current allergies, important telephone numbers such as local poison control, one""s pediatrician, the number of the local hospital and the like. Alternatively the markers or tokens can be made as flexible, plastic xe2x80x9csnap-onxe2x80x9d covers that can be used to replace the original caps and recover the partially consumed contents in a container, although such plastic replacement covers are not particularly durable and do not provide the flexibility of magnetic markers, for example for use with different size containers.
Another and important object of the present invention is to provide an alternative embodiment that includes a second set of markers that are uniquely identifiable so as to be distinguishable from the first set of markers and serve to indicate a possible adverse reaction to a foodstuff that had been contained in a container marked with a marker of that second set.
Accordingly, to effect the foregoing and other objects, the present invention generally comprises a plurality of at least seven markers or tokens adapted to couple with a container of food, each of such markers being permanently marked with a corresponding day of the week, and a storage medium, preferably in the form of a board or other device to which the markers can be removably attached. Yet another form of the present invention includes a first set of at least seven such markers, each bearing a notation of a corresponding day of the week, and another set of at least seven markers, distinguishable from the first set an bearing indicia that serves to identify a marked container as having included a foodstuff that may have an adverse effect such as an allergic reaction, on the consumer thereof
Other objects of the present invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter. The invention accordingly comprises the features, properties and relation of components, all of which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of which will be indicated in the claims.